Rosario v. Santos

GUERRERO, J.:

The Court of Appeals,1 in accordance with Section 31 of the Judiciary Act of 1948, as amended, certified to Us the appeal docketed as CA-G.R. No. 56674-R entitled "Amparo del Rosario, plaintiff-appellee, vs. Spouses Andres Santos and Aurora Santos, defendants-appellants, " as only questions of law are involved. On January 14, 1974, Amparo del Rosario filed a complaint against the spouses Andres F. Santos and Aurora O. Santos, for specific performance and damages allegedly for failure of the latter to execute the Deed of Confirmation of Sale of an undivided 20,000 square meters of land, part of Lot 1, Psu-206650, located at Barrio Sampaloc, Tanay, Rizal, in malicious breach of a Deed of Sale (Exhibit A or 1) dated September 28, 1964.

Amparo del Rosario died on Sept. 21, 1980 so that she is now substituted by the heirs named in her will still undergoing probate proceedings. Andres F. Santos also died, on Sept.

5, 1980, and he is substituted by the following heirs: Jovita Santos Gonzales, Arnulfo O. Santos, Archimedes O. Santos, Germelina Santos Ravida, and Andres O. Santos, Jr. The Deed of Sale (Exh. A or 1) is herein reproduced below: "DEED OF SALE KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS: I, ANDRES F. SANTOS, of legal age, married to Aurora 0. Santos, Filipino and resident cf San Dionisio, Paranaque, Rizal, Philippines, for and in consideration of the sum of TWO THOUSAND (P 2,000.00) PESOS, Philippine Currency, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, do hereby SELLS, CONVEYS, and TRANSFERS (sic) unto Amparo del Rosario, of legal age, married to Fidel del Rosario but with legal separation, Filipino and resident of San Dionisio, Paranaque, Rizal, Philippines that certain 20,000 square meters to be segregated from Lot 1 of plan Psu-206650 along the southeastern portion of said lot, which property is more particularly described as follows: 'A parcel of land (Lot 1 as shown on plan Psu-206650, situated in the Barrio of Sampaloc, Municipality of Tanay, Province of Rizal.

Bounded on the SW., along lines 1-2-3, by Lot 80 of Tanay Public Land Subdivision, Pls-39; on the NW., along lines 3-4-5, by Lot 2; and along lines 5-6-7-8-9-10-11, by Lot 6; on the NE., along lines 11-12-13, by Lot 3: and along lines 13-1415, by Lot 4, all of plan Psu-206650; and on the SE., along line 15-1, by Lot 5 of plan Psu- 206650 ... ; containing an area of ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY ONE THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY (181,420) SQUARE METERS. All points referred to are indicated on the plan and are marked on the ground as follows: ...

of which above-described property, I own one-half (1/2) interest thereof being my attorney's fee, and the said 20,000 square meters will be transferred unto the VENDEE as soon as the title thereof has been released by the proper authority or authorities concerned: That the parties hereto hereby agree that the VENDOR shall execute a Deed of Confirmation of Deed of Sale in favor of the herein VENDEE as soon as the title has been released and the subdivision plan of said Lot 1 has been approved by the Land Registration Commissioner. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 28th day of September, 1964, in the City of Manila, Philippines. s/ ANDRES F. SANTOS t/ ANDRES F. SANTOS With My Marital Consent: s/ Aurora O. Santos (Wife) t/ Aurora O. Santos (Wife) SIGNED IN THE PRESENCE OF: s/ Felicitas C. Moro s/ Corona C. Venal REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) ) SS.

BEFORE ME, a Notary Public for and in Rizal, Philippines, personally appeared Andres F. Santos, with Res. Cert. No. 4500027 issued at Paranaque, Rizal, on Jan.

9, 1964, B-0935184 issued at Paranaque, Rizal on April 15, 1964, and Aurora 0. Santos, with Res. Cert.

No.

A-4500028 issued at Paranaque, Rizal, on Jan. 9, 1964, giving her marital consent to this instrument, both of whom are known to me and to me known to be the same persons who executed the foregoing instruments and they acknowledged to me that the same is their free act and voluntary deed. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto signed this instrument and affixed my notarial seal this lst day of October, 1964, in Pasig, Rizal, Philippines.

Doc. No. 1792; Page No. 85; Book No. 19; Series of 1964. s/ FLORENCIO LANDRITO t/ FLORENCIO LANDRITO NOTARY PUBLIC Until December 31, 19652 Plaintiff claimed fulfillment of the conditions for the execution of the Deed of Confirmation of Sale, namely: the release of the title of the lot and the approval of the subdivision plan of said lot by the Land Registration Commission.

She even enumerated the titles with their corresponding land areas derived by defendants from the aforesaid lot, to wit: (a) TCT 203580 - 30,205 sq. meters (b) TCT 203581 - 19, 790 sq. meters (c) TCT 167568 - 40,775 sq.

meters In a motion to dismiss, defendants pleaded, inter alia, the defenses of lack of jurisdiction of the court a quo over the subject of the action and lack of cause of action allegedly because there was no allegation as to the date of the approval of the subdivision plan, no specific statement that the titles therein mentioned were curved out of Lot I and no clear showing when the demands were made on the defendants. They likewise set up the defense of prescription allegedly because the deed of sale was dated September 28, 1964 and supposedly ratified October 1, 1964 but the complaint was filed only on January 14, 1974, a lapse of more than nine years when it should have been filed within five years from 1964 in accordance with Article 1149, New Civil Code. Defendant also claimed that the demand set forth in the complaint has been waived, abandoned or otherwise extinguished.

It is alleged that the deed of sale was "only an accommodation graciously extended, out of close friendship between the defendants and the plaintiff and her casual business partner in the buy and sell of real estate, one Erlinda Cortez;"3 that in order to allay the fears of plaintiff over the non-collection of the debt of Erlinda Cortez to plaintiff in various sums exceeding P 2,000.00, defendants, who were in turn indebted to Erlinda Cortez in the amount of P 2,000.00, voluntarily offered to transfer to plaintiff their inexistent but expectant right over the lot in question, the same to be considered as part payment of Erlinda Cortez' indebtedness; that as Erlinda Cortez later on paid her creditor what was then due, the deed of sale had in effect been extinguished. Defendants thereby characterized the said deed of sale as a mere tentative agreement which was never intended nor meant to be ratified by and acknowledged before a notary public.

In fact, they claimed that they never appeared before Notary Public Florencio Landrito. Finally, defendants alleged that the claim on which the action or suit is founded is unenforceable under the statute of frauds and that the cause or object of the contract did not exist at the time of the transaction. After an opposition and a reply were filed by the respective parties, the Court a quo resolved to deny the motion to dismiss of defendants.

Defendants filed their answer with counterclaim interposing more or less the same defenses but expounding on them further. In addition, they claimed that the titles allegedly derived by them from Lot 1 of Annex A or I were cancelled and/or different from said Lot I and that the deed of sale was simulated and fictitious, plaintiff having paid no amount to defendants; and that the deed was entrusted to plaintiff's care and custody on the condition that the latter; (a) would secure the written consent of Erlinda Cortez to Annex A or I as part payment of what she owed to plaintiff; (b) would render to defendants true accounting of collections made from Erlinda showing in particular the consideration of 2,000.00 of Annex A or I duly credited to Erlinda's account.4 Plaintiff filed a reply and answer to counterclaim and thereafter a motion for summary judgment and/or judgment on the pleadings on the ground that the defenses of defendants fail to tender an issue or the same do not present issues that are serious enough to deserve a trial on the merits,5 submitting on a later date the affidavit of merits.

Defendants filed their corresponding opposition to the motion for summary judgment and/or judgment on the pleadings. Not content with the pleadings already submitted to the Court, plaintiff filed a reply while defendants filed a supplemental opposition. With all these pleadings filed by the parties in support of their respective positions, the Court a quo still held in abeyance plaintiff's motion for summary judgment or judgment on the pleadings pending the pre-trial of the case.

At the pre-trial, defendants offered by way of compromise to pay plaintiff the sum of P2,000.00, the consideration stated in the deed of sale. But the latter rejected the bid and insisted on the delivery of the land to her. Thus, the pre-trial proceeded with the presentation by plaintiff of Exhibits A to Q which defendants practically admitted, adopted as their own and marked as Exhibits 1 to 17.

In addition, the latter offered Exhibit 18, which was their reply to plaintiff's letter of demand dated December 21, 1973. From the various pleadings filed in this case by plaintiff, together with the annexes and affidavits as well as the exhibits offered in evidence at the pre-trial, the Court a quo found the following facts as having been duly established since defendant failed to meet them with countervailing evidence: "In February, 1964, Teofilo Custodia owner of a parcel of unregistered land with an area of approximately 220,000 square meters in Barrio Sampaloc, Tanay, Rizal, hired Attorney Andres F. Santos "to cause the survey of the above-mentioned property, to file registration proceedings in court, to appear and represent him in all government office relative thereto, to advance all expenses for surveys, taxes to the government, court fees, registration fees ... up to the issuance of title in the name"

of Custodia. They agreed that after the registration of the title in Custodio's name, and "after deducting all expenses from the total area of the property," Custodio would assign and deliver to Santos "one-half (1/2) share of the whole property as appearing in the certificate of title so issued."

Exh. B or 2). On March 22, 1964, Custodio's land was surveyed under plan Psu-226650 (Exh.

D or 4). It was divided into six (6) lots, one of which was a road lot. The total area of the property as surveyed was 211,083 square meters.

The respective areas of the lots were as follows: Lot 1 181,420 square meters Lot 2 7,238 square meters Lot 3 7,305 square meters Lot 4 5,655 square meters Lot 5 5,235 square meters Road Lot 6 4,230 square meters TOTAL 211,083 square meters x x x x x x x x x On December 27, 1965, a decree of registration No. N-108022 was issued in Land Registration Case No. N-5023, of the Court of First Instance of Rizal, LRC Record No. N-27513, in favor of Teofilo Custodia married to Miguela Perrando resident of Tanay, Rizal. On March 23, 1966, Original Certificate of Title No. 5134 (Exh. Q or 17) was issued to Custodio for Lots 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Psu- 206650, with a total area of 206,853 square meters.

The areas of the five (5) lots were as follows: Lot 1 181,420 square meters Lot 2 7,238 square meters Lot 3 7,305 square meters Lot 4 5,655 square meters Lot 5 5,235 square meters In April to May, 1966, a consolidation-subdivision survey (LRC) Pcs-5273 (Exh. E or 5) was made on the above lots converting them into six (6) new lots as follows: x x x x x x x x x Lot 1 20,000 square meters Lot 2 40,775 square meters Lot 3 50,000 square meters Lot 4 40,775 square meters Lot 5 50,000 square meters Road Lot 6 5,303 square meters TOTAL 206,853 square meters On June 22, 1966, the consolidation-subdivision plan (LRC) Pcs-5273 (Exh. E or 5) was approved by the Land Registration Commission and by the Court of First Instance of Rizal in an order dated July 2, 1966 (Entry No. 61037 T-167561, Exh.

Q). Upon its registration, Custodio's O.C.T. No. 5134 (Exh. Q) was cancelled and TCT Nos. 167561, 167562, 167563, 167564 (Exh.

G), 167565 (Exh. H and 167566 were issued for the six lots in the name of Custodio (Entry No. 61035, Exh. Q).

On June 23, 1966, Custodio conveyed to Santos Lots 4 and 5, Pcs-5273 with a total area of 90,775 square meters (Exh. B or 2) described in Custodio's TCT No. 167564 (Exh. G or 7) and TCT No. 167565 (Exh.

H or 8), plus a one-half interest in the Road Lot No. 6, as payment of Santos' attorney's fees and advances for the registration of Custodio's land. Upon registration of the deed of conveyance on July 5, 1966, Custodio's TCT Nos. 167564 and 167565 (Exhs. G and H) were cancelled.

TCT No. 167568 (Exh. I or 9) for Lot 4 and TCT No. 167585 (Exh. J or 10) for Lot 5 were issued to Santos.

On September 2, 1967, Santos' Lot 5, with an area of 50,000 square meters was subdivided into two (2) lots, designated as Lots 5-A and 5-B in the plan Psd-78008 (Exh. F or 6), with the following areas: Lot 5-A 30,205 square meters Lot 5-B 19,795